“It’s not the best preparation for the Tour de France”- Alberto Contador on Jonas Vingegaard's Giro-Tour decision

Spanish legend and multi-time Grand Tour winner, Alberto Contador, unpacked the challenge of doubling up the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France in the same season. He believes that Jonas Vingegaard is going to struggle getting into the latter with his best form because of his schedule.

Speaking as someone who knows the demands of three-week races, he is highly skeptical that this combination truly benefits performance at the Tour. For the current Eurosport pundit, today’s high-performance paradigm has reshaped preparation, shifting emphasis away from traditional race days toward the moment to measure workload through specific training.

In that vein, the rider from Madrid underlines that modern cycling prioritizes controlled training loads, something that becomes volatile—and hard to quantify—once a three-week race is added to the mix. Diving into the technical side, Contador stresses that contemporary sport is built on meticulous planning, with altitude camps and performance data as two core pillars.

As the Polti general manager explains: “We’re living a brand of cycling today where training camps are everything, everything is measured in detail, but when you go to a race like the Giro d’Italia you can’t truly measure your efforts in detail.”

Jonas Vingegaard goes into the Corsa Rosa as the man to beat, and in an ideal scenario, would repeat the performances of Tadej Pogacar in 2024 - where he was unmatched in the fight for the overall win. However, that is not something that Vingegaard is in control of, and in any situation the Giro will be very demanding.

This loss of control over physical fatigue, in his view, jeopardizes recovery for any rider—in this case, Jonas Vingegaard. He acknowledges exceptional cases such as Tadej Pogacar, who held form throughout, yet he stands by the idea that other preparatory routes are better suited for July.

The risk of missing peak form at the key moment of the season is the main reason Contador advises against combining both Grand Tours.

On that point, the former pro does not budge, stating that “I don’t think it’s better. At best you’re taking a risk that you won’t recover in time to arrive in optimal condition.”

Cumulative fatigue and the recovery window between both races are factors that can penalize even the strongest riders in the bunch. However, modern standards of racing give way for more innovation to succeed. Whilst Pogacar performed at his very best in both Grand Tours two years ago; Paul Seixas at age 19 is also entering the Tour with podium ambitions despite being the youngest rider to start it in almost 100 years.

It is an era where what was previously thought to be impossible is now possible, and Vingegaard is simultaneously going to try and conclude his mission of winning all Grand Tours in his career.

“Honestly, I don’t consider it the best preparation for the Tour de France," Contador argues. Despite positive precedents from the UAE Team Emirates leader, the Madrilenian insists that, physiologically and strategically, it is not ideal. He leaves the door open to see how other leaders, such as Visma’s Jonas Vingegaard, manage the challenge at the upcoming Giro d’Italia.